Here enters Greene, Will, and Shakebag.
Shakebag. Come, Will, see thy tools be in a readiness!
Is not thy powder dank, or will thy flint strike fire?
Will. Then ask me if my nose be on my face,
Or whether my tongue be frozen in my mouth.
Zounds, here’s a coil!
You were best swear me on the interrogatories
How many pistols I have took in hand,
Or whether I love the smell of gunpowder,
Or dare abide the noise the dag will make,
Or will not wink at flashing of the fire. 10
I pray thee, Shakebag, let this answer thee,
That I have took more purses in this down
Than e’er thou handledst pistols in thy life.
Shakebag. Ay, haply thou has picked more in a throng:
But, should I brag what booties I have took,
I think the overplus that’s more than thine
Would mount to a greater sum of money
Then either thou or all thy kin are worth.
Zounds, I hate them as I hate a toad
That carry a muscado in their tongue, 20
And scarce a hurting weapon in their hand.
Will. O Greene, intolerable!
It is not for mine honour to bear this.
Why, Shakebag, I did serve the king at Boulogne,
And thou canst brag of nothing that thou hast done.
Shakebag. Why, so can Jack of Feversham,
That sounded for a fillip on the nose,
When he that gave it him holloed in his ear,
And he supposed a cannon-bullet hit him.
Then they fight.
Greene. I pray you, sirs, list to Æsop’s talk: 30
Whilst two stout dogs were striving for a bone,
There comes a cur and stole it from them both;
So, while you stand striving on these terms of manhood,
Arden escapes us, and deceives us all.
Shakebag. Why, he begun.
Will. And thou shalt find I’ll end;
I do but slip it until better time:
But, if I do forget——